Adam Dyer - from a talk with Liz and David Ferguson.
We were waiting with a cup of coffee to chat with Adam Dyer who is coming to the Flavel to perform with violinist Katharina Naomi Paul, as part of the Young Artist’s platform at the Flavel on Friday 7th April - book your seats early to get the ones you want!
Adam has packed much into his life already. He is a Natural Sciences graduate from Cambridge, has specialised not only in piano, but also violin, and is currently learning the trombone,. How lucky to be able to combine both Sciences and the Arts. Looking at the internet tells you that he has an interest in Jazz, has recently been performing in Oslo, and has some tracks available to hear on Youtube. But there is much more……
There are sometimes not many young people in the Flavel cafe (!) so Adam was easy to spot. It was immediately obvious that he and Liz would get on well as they found common ground talking about the jazz pianist Bill Evans. He was amazed that Liz had heard the old favourites back in the 60s playing live at Ronnie Scotts in London. I had prepared some questions to keep the meeting flowing along, but these were not necessary and his enthusiasm carried us along.
Although he started with classical piano lessons, Adam enjoyed improvisation from the start and this developed into a love of jazz when he was chosen to be the school’s Big Band pianist by an inspirational Head of Music, David Pickthall. At Cambridge he formed his own group and was inspired by listening to and playing transcriptions of Charlie Parker. At this time he attended Darlington Summer School, ostensibly to study the jazz course under Keith Tippett, but he spend much of his time in the masterclasses of Martino Tirimo, a classical concert pianist who berated his lack of technique!
Having all this under his belt in his early twenties was not enough. He went on to do a Masters degree in jazz piano and composition at the Guildhall School of Music in London under Nikki Iles and Norman Beedie, and here he met Katharina. She had already turned down a full time orchestral post in Germany to move to London, favouring the opportunity to create exciting new projects over playing standard repertoire. The stage was set.
At this point my notes run out. I was listening and waiting to hear more with such attention that I stopped writing. I know his father and partner (Marie - the locally famous Scots lady for cross country running) live locally which is why he is so often down here. We all enjoy the Music of Ravel. We enjoy ‘Swing’ music. We agree that music needs to be memorised when playing in performance (a struggle for many of us older players). We agree that the vital mix of risk and excitement gives the best ‘edgy’ performances. But a look at our watches said we had to part. An hour head flown by, and the chat had been meant to last for 10 minutes.
Lastly but not leastly he gives lessons in jazz piano. Liz made a note of this for future reference.
So come and meet Adam and Katharina after the performance and enjoy youthful enthusiasm for a fusion of style and culture we do not often have the chance to hear in Dartmouth. I look forward to the concert and will buy tickets as soon as possible.
David Ferguson.
